For an artist as adventurous as LPO Conductor Emeritus Vladimir Jurowski, it’s an irresistible challenge.

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini

Southbank Centre

That’s how Sergei Prokofiev described his Second Symphony, and it’s right on the nail – this is music from the machine age, forged in the furnace of revolution. For an artist as adventurous as LPO Conductor Emeritus Vladimir Jurowski, it’s an irresistible challenge, as well as a gripping counterpart to Ukrainian composer Anna Korsun’s all-too-contemporary study of an industrial landscape shattered by war. Expect nature music with a serious bite – but poetry, too, as pianist Anna Vinnitskaya embraces both the danger and the romance of Rachmaninov’s glittering Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.

Razing boundaries to the ground, making them disappear; but also honing of forgotten edges: With “Tower of Babel”, Klangforum Wien continues its project of devising a multi-part structure which, in defiance of the tectonic tremors caused by geopolitical conflicts from the Baltics to the Silk Road, makes a fascinatingly diverse composers' scene visible. These positions – strong and radical – manifest themselves outside a streamlined cultural industry. There’s a lot at stake.

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Geschliffene Grenzen

Wiener Konzerthaus

With The Tower of Babel, Klangforum Wien, together with the Wiener Konzerthaus and with the support of AFF Projects, launched a new project in 2023 which, with two performances in Vienna and Berlin so far, explores the new in the music of the former Soviet territories in all its complexity - distinctive, different and highly advanced. As part of the third performance at the Donaueschinger Musiktage 2025, Klangforum Wien will premiere works by Anna Korsun, Koka Nikoladze and Alexander Khubeev, and complete the program with a new composition by Francesca Verunelli.

Donaueschinger Musiktage 2025: The Tower of Babel III

Donauhallen Donaueschingen

At just 24 years old, Strauss is at the top of his game in a counter-intuitive portrait of the notorious lover Don Juan — not the libertine, but a world-weary hero searching for the perfect woman. The music is intense, though not without passages of sensuous love music. The score demands extraordinary virtuosity from the orchestra, especially the horns with their brilliant signature horn calls. Led by the incomparable conductor, Kirill Karabits, this program also features works by fellow Ukrainian artists, including a world premiere by the award-winning Victoria Vita Polevá and a contemporary piece by Anna Korsun that recently premiered in 2023.

Anna Korsun

Events

Past events

Jan 21, 2026

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini · Southbank Centre

Jan 21, 2026

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini · London Philharmonic Orchestra

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